Floating fishing line



FLCATING FISHIENG LINE Filed, Aug. 9, 1937 RLEDRICH 7 2215 760 BY W0.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept. 24, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

' will float and at the same time will withstand the wear of repeatedlypassing through the pole guides, in casting, in hand retrieving orre-reeling; that will have a specific gravity less than water; will notbe affected by grease, acid, oil, etc.; and that will not become stickyif warmed and will not become sun-checked.

All of these objects will be secured without the use of any messy andunsatisfactory applications of "dope to the line as practicedheretofore.

With these and other ends in view I illustrate in the accompanyingdrawing such instances of adaptation as will disclose the broad featuresof the invention without limiting myself to the specific details shownthereon and described herein.

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a fishing line on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic cross section of a line made impervious towater.

Fig. 3 is a modified cross section in which each strand of a, line ismade impervious to water.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross section of a further modification. Inpracticing my invention I may use whatever equivalents or adaptations ofmaterials, substances, etc., that the exigencies of varying serviceconditions may require without departing from the broad spirit of theinvention.

A fishing line I of any. desired natural or synthetic textile materialmay be coated with anyone of many synthetic or other non-moistureabsorbing substances 2.

The purpose of a coating 2 is to prevent the textile center fromabsorbing water. By doing this the line will be floatable and will notbecome waterlogged." The line as a whole may be covered or theindividual strands 3 may be coated as indicated at l or the threads.them- 1 selves may be made impervious to moisture.

ter I is naturally fioatable, but as soon as it absorbs water the linewill sink.

, A modified vinyl halide polymer known as Coroseal is used asa'coating, even though its specific gravity taken alone is greater thanwater a yet in its combined relation with the center it is less, thusmaking the line fioatable.

I may coat a line in any desired manner by running it through a tubingmachine with which is' associated a supply of the coating or it may 10be dipped or run through a bath and it may be dyed any desired color foridentification or other purposes.

A floatable line may also be formed, as instanced in Fig. 4 wherein thethin center 5 ll may be a rubber core of low specific gravity aboutwhich is braided a cotton covering. This covering may itself beimpregnated with any desired non-hygroscopic substance and the outsidemay be formed of a layer 6 similar to the a coating 2, Fig. 1.

I may use any desired material for impregnation or coating purposes thatdoes not absorb moisture. These may be rubber compounds, cellulose,synthetic resins, casein compounds with cooperative solvents, etc. Theoutside surface may be finished in any desired manner, with a polished,or matt surface.

A modified vinyl halide polymer, known as Coroseal or any equivalentthereof may be used with any desired cooperative solvent. The compoundis liquified by means of heat. It is then used as a coating or as animpregnating material. As an instance, Coroseal becomes liquid at about135 F. and it is cured at about 255 F. in a few minutes.

Any floatable line intended for fiy-casting must still retain enoughweight at its outer, end to spring the rod to produce a whip effect. Thefinished line may be 0.050 to 0.060 inch in diameter. A loose wovencotton line may have a specific gravity of .70 and a medium braided line.90. As Coroseal has a specific gravity of 1.30 a very thin coating orimpregnation will produce a resultant specific gravity of the entireline below that of water which will cause the line to float.

When a dope dressing is used it only lasts for a very short time afterwhich it must be renewed. The introduction of fly lines has broughtabout all kinds of dressings and dopes but with- 50 out success insecuring a really floatable line.

A dressed line depends entirely for its eifectiveness on surfacetension. As soon as this is detroyed the line goes to the bottom. When adressed line begins to sink it must be dried and 55 doped again, aftereach immersion. From a practical standpoint the followers of IsaacWalton find it easier to lift a. large number of feet of line fromoff-the top of the water than to pull a very small length of line out ofthe water.

It has been found that when a line has taken in its full complement ofwater so that the line is completely wet, a .025 inch diameter line willsink as rapidly as a line nearly four times larger in diameter. A dryline, if its specific gravity is below that of water will float only aslong as the surface tension or capillary repulsion is present insuflicient force. The present practice to keep the-lines dry, as notedabove, is to dope them with different kinds of greases.

The exact quantity of waterproofing material that lines of differentstructure may require is variable, depending on the treatment of thestrands, the type of braiding, etc., suffice it to say.

than the phenol present to produce a synthetic resin that will maintainits fluidity over a long time so as to be available for coating andimpregnating fly-casting fishing lines. The applied resin may be set orcured in any desired manner so as not to destroy the flexibility of theline.

A waterproofing cellulose compound may be used. Such compounds are wellknown. Theyoil the liquid will be tempered and brittleness 1 will beavoided. A nitro cellulose dissolved in any of its known solvents suchas amylacetate acetone, methyl alcohol, etc., with a fat or oil toproduce the desired fluidity constitutes a modified form of waterproofing. A casein product called Galalith has water proofingcharacteristics. In a liquid form it may also be used.

What I claim is:

The process of forming a floatable fishing line which consists inimpregnating the line in a water proofing compound including a modifiedvinyl halide polymer at a given temperature of approximately 135? F.,and in such amount that the specific gravity of the treated line aftercuring will be less than the specific'gravity of water and in a fewminutes curing the line at a higher temperature approximately 255 F. sothat the floatability of the line with its coating will be independentof surface tension.

ROBERT LEDRICH.

